A Rifted Moon Pt 1
by r lexx2001
Summary: Taking place in early R, the Senchi meet a new ally of sorts


The following is a fanfic one of a three part arch. This will eventually lead into a   
larger fanfic. I can be contacted below at   
  
r_lexx2001@yahoo.com  
  
this is the page for the larger fic.  
  
http://members.tripod.com/~Himeno_Hikari/Fanfic.html  
  
And now, on with the story.   
  
A Rifted Moon  
  
Part One: Enter the Dragon   
  
It seemed like a quiet night in Tokyo; a slight breeze blew through the streets   
and alleys of the sleeping city. However this peace would not last. A poster   
advertising the new Sailor V game blew through an alley, only to be sucked into   
a vortex of light and energy that had suddenly appeared. The violence of the rip   
in space and time caused windows to rattle, a trash can tipped over and a rat   
that had been scavenging for food fled to find safer foraging.  
From inside the yortex, came a scream, an inhumanly loud and deep scream. Then a   
creature was ejected from the vortex. It was unable to stop in time, before   
hitting the wall on the other side of the ally with a loud THUMP. This creature   
was the image of a classical European dragon, except it had feathers instead of   
scales and bandoliers with large pouches were wrapped around its chest and   
waist. All of its feathers seemed to be colored a uniform dull gray, which   
hardly seemed natural.  
  
As the creature begin to pick itself up, the vortex began to close. It tried to   
jump back in, only to see the vortex close and it gracefully slammed into the   
wall behind where the vortex had been.  
  
After a few moments of lying on the ground, and cursing whatever force had done   
this to him, in several languages, the dragon picked himself up, and slowly   
prepared to spread its wings. First the serpentine head poked out form the ally   
to check if anyone was there, when it saw no one, he stepped out into the   
street, spread his wings and took off. After a circling about for a few minutes,   
the creature chose to gently land on the roof of a six-story apartment building,   
in order to survey the city.   
  
"Well, this place looks like it has a reasonable level of technology, but no   
magic..."   
  
The thought was cut off, as a very unnatural bolt of lightning came form an only   
moderately cloudy sky, and seemed to gather, and be shot off again at something   
in a park not too far away for were the dragon was perched. "Well, looks like I   
spoke too soon. I think I'll go have a look at that ", He thought to himself as   
he prepared to fly down to where magic seemed to be in use.   
  
"Supreme thunderrrrrrrrr", Sailor Jupiter screamed as she launched her attack at   
the Cardian the Senshi had been chasing for most of the night. The Cardian, a   
tall, willowy woman with limp purple hair, dressed in a black body suit and a   
red cape. However just before the attack could hit her, she melded with a   
shadow, then after the spot were she had been standing was pulverized she   
emerged on the other side of the park.   
  
As she emerged from another shadow, she waved to the Senshi, blew them a kiss,   
then to taunt them yelled " It'll take more than that to stop Shade, catch me if   
you can sailor girls." Then promptly disappeared into the darkness.   
  
  
  
"Argh, I thought I had it that time" Jupiter growled as the Cardian disappeared,   
" we need a plan to catch this thing".   
  
With this all eyes turned to Mercury who was busily working on her computer.   
Then she looked up at the rest of the Senshi, who were all focused on her. "I   
can't track it well enough to guess where it will come out, so we have to keep   
it from jumping through shadows".   
With this bit of blatantly obvious wisdom, Sailor Mars immediately cut in. "So   
we have to split up and fit it between shadows, since it runs away whenever   
we're in a group".  
  
"But, but ..." Sailor Moon tried to get a word in only to get cut off by Sailor   
Venus.   
  
"Then when it can't escape we'll get it".   
"... if we're out there alone it could get us before anyone can help" Moon finally   
managed to blurt out, but no one noticed.  
  
"Alright, let's get that weirdo" Jupiter, said, as she had already began to run   
off into the shadows and trees, the other Senshi soon joined her, except Moon.   
  
" And that monster could get us, " then she realized she was standing alone, and   
immediately ran off to find any of the other Senshi.  
  
The dragon had flown down to the edge of the park were he had seen the magical   
Lightning strike. He decided that it would be best to get a look at the spell   
caster before he revealed himself to whoever had created such a power, since it   
was obviously some kind of attack.   
  
Sailor Moon was also quietly creeping through the park, trying to avoid the   
Cardian finding her, and while trying to find any of her friends. " I thought   
Mako-chan went this way, I hope I find her before something finds me, it would   
be such a tragedy if a beautiful girl like me were cut down in her prime ..."  
  
Moon's thought was cut short as the dragon who was searching for the magic he   
had just seen, came out of the cover of the shadows and a row of bushes. The two   
stopped and for a moment examined each other, then the silence of their meeting   
was broken by a blood curdling scream from Sailor Moon, as she ran away from the   
creature in a blind panic as fast as she could. The dragon just stared at her,   
blinked a few times, and then when it hit itself on the side of the head with   
it's fore limb and muttered.  
  
"Great going stupid, you're in a new dimension only ten minutes and you scared   
some poor school girl out of her mind."  
  
Usagi's scream that could have raised the dead brought the other Senshi to where   
she was, however, they did not find out anything useful from their   
panic-stricken leader. "and it was huge, and had big teeth, and was going to   
eat me, WWWWHHHHAAA".  
  
"Usagi, what are you talking about, you should have stayed if you found the   
Cardian, so we could destroy it", Sailor Mars, was very annoyed, she really   
wanted to burn this Cardian, so she could go home and get some sleep; she had   
chores to do in the morning.  
  
"But it wasn't the Cardian , it was something bigger and meaner". Usagi muttered   
between fits of tears.   
  
Mars was just about to literally knock some sense into the Senshi's, fearful   
leader when, almost on cue, the dragon emerged from the trees and bushes that   
had been concealing it.  
  
"Ho, crap, there's a whole group of them, it looks like this bunch has never   
seen a dragon before". The creature thought to itself, as it rose up on its hind   
legs, to show it was not concealing anything, or about to cast a spell. However   
the Senshi, did not see this as a non-threatening act. What he ended up getting   
was a chorus of attack names being yelled out.  
  
"Fire Soul Bird."  
  
"Supreme Thunder Dragon."  
  
"Crescent Beam Shower ."  
  
The dragon was expecting some running and screaming, instead he got three energy   
attacks launched at him. However as the volly of energy beams raced towards him,   
he dodged to the left, and they raced past harmlessly, then hard to the right   
and the thunder bolt also missed , but cut a tree in half. Then he fell flat on   
the ground to the bird of fire just went over his head.  
  
"Well, " he thought to himself, " these certainly are not normal school girls".  
With that he rose again and spread his wings and did a short flight ( that was   
more like a hop). He ended up right in front of the Senshi. Sailor Venus, with   
the thought of the creature gobbling up a Senshi, responded almost without   
thinking.  
  
"Sailor V kick" She screamed at the top of her lungs, only to be dulled by the   
loud crack, that followed her foot hitting the creature's jaw. "Ahhhhhhhh" ,   
Venus's scream of pain echoed, as she realized she had broken her ankle, the   
creature hardly seemed fazed.  
  
Sailor Jupiter, immediately followed Venus's lead and attacked the creature   
physically. She managed to grapple him round the neck. Mars followed, she could   
never pass up a fight, and Mercury only joined them to protect her two fallen   
friends. The fight soon degenerated into a huge dust ball occasionally   
punctuated by a foot, fist, tail or claw.  
  
Usagi managed to get up, seeing her friends in danger. Only just as she got to   
her feet, inside the fight the dragon decided to change its tactics. It opened   
its mouth and begins to breathe out a pale blue gas. The other Senshi were able   
to avoid this, except Usagi, who got a blast right in the face. She then went   
right back to the ground hoping she could stay there until the world will stop   
spinning. Just after this happened Luna and Artimis arrive, after having lost   
the Senshi a few blocks ago, before they and the Cardian had got to the park.   
Luna got a good look at what the Senshi were fighting and realized what it was.   
  
"Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, you don't have to fight this creature its not an   
enemy." She yelled, but nobody seemed to hear her, or care. Then, after a little   
time to build up, she yelled at the top of her lungs   
" SSSSSSSTTTTTTTTTTTTTOOOOOOOOPPPPPPP IIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTT".  
  
Artimis took a step back, shocked that such a loud noise could come from Luna,   
while the melee of Senshi and Dragon had stopped. The Dragon had Jupiter in a   
headlock, Mars pinned to the ground with its hind right foot and Mercury snared   
in its tail. Venus was sitting on the ground trying to hide how much her injury   
hurt. Moon was half asleep and mumbling about how school should start at noon.  
  
As Luna regained her composure, the dragon released his hold on the three Senshi   
he had been fighting. Then once they had decided that they were not enemies,   
Luna addressed the dragon.   
  
"In the past your kind, had come to the Moon Kingdom... " However she could not   
finish, as the newcomer interrupted her.   
  
"THE MOON KINGDOM, ho dam, I'm that far from home." The dragon blurted out. Then   
realizing he had forgotten something (due to the brawl), he faced the group.   
  
"I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Manzer, of the clan Windrider".   
The great creature then proceeded to quickly bow to the assembled Senshi and   
Guardians.   
  
Mars look back at the creature, as something struck her in what it had said,   
then asked him "You know of the Moon Kingdom, were you there in the Silver   
Millenium?"  
  
Manzer smiled, and stifled a snicker, while Jupiter got ready to fight, thinking   
that his amusement was a prelude to another fight.   
  
"No, I wasn't there, do I look that old" he replied. "You would be surprised how   
far the stories of that time of peace have spread. The stories of its rise and   
fall have traveled far across the realities." He then looked at the assembled   
group " and I guess you're living the story of its rebirth."  
  
While all this was going on the Cardian Shade, was watching the initial fight   
and subsequent introduction. She was rather miffed that the Senshi seemed to   
have forgotten about her. She decided to rectify the situation by regaining   
their attention. The assembled group of barely saw the attack coming, as a   
barrage of shadow blasts scattered them.  
  
Moon, half-awake, stumped up to her feet, prepared her wand and readied to throw   
her attack. What they got was a woblly "Moon princess halation", puncutuated   
wath a yawn at the end. Mars winced and slapped her hand over her face. "You   
just fried a tree, you idiot". She mumbled as the remains of the tree Moon   
destroyed (that was nowhere near the Cardian) caught fire.  
  
Manzer rummaged in one of the pockets on his bandoliers for something. He pulled   
out a small metal cylinder, and threw it at the Cardian. "Damn, that was my last   
one", was what he thought as the grenade hit the branch the Cardian was standing   
on, and exploded in a flash brighter than daylight.  
  
The Senshi, their new ally and the Cardian were all blinded by the flash. The   
Cardian hit the ground with an unceremonious thud, then decided that bringing   
the energy it had back to its master was more important than getting killed.   
Shade promptly disappeared before her enemies' sight returned. The Senshi on the   
other hand were more than a little surprised that their foe had been dispatched   
so quickly by the newcomer. The Dragon just smiled and muttered " well I guess   
that settles that".   
  
Mars, seeing that she could now go home and get some much-needed sleep was   
feeling a bit charitable to the Dragon. " Um Manzer-sama, do you have a place to   
stay?"   
  
"Well no, I've only been in this dimension about half an hour", he smiled   
sheepishly.  
  
"You can stay at my families temple. If you're careful Grandpa won't find you".  
Jupiter butted in " but how is he going to get there? It's bad enough for us to   
sneak around, how are we going to hide him".  
  
As she said this Manzers body began to emit a soft glow. His body reweaved its   
pattern until it was compacted into the form of a human male. A very handsome   
human male. His human form was tall, about six feet even. He was not heavily   
built, a medium build. His hair long but not shoulder length and parted in the   
middle was the same dull grey as his plumage, that made him look older than his   
features portrayed him, in his mid twenties. His expression seemed to emit a   
warm friendly aura, a person who seemed always friendly and warm.  
Mars was the first to get a good look at the Dragon in his human form, and   
muttered "he's so handsome" and blushed a little.  
  
Venus was for a moment able to overcome the pain in her ankle. She joined Mars   
in her blush and muttered "he's gorgeous".   
  
Jupiter, turned to see what her friends were swooning over, and uttered her   
tried and true reaction to any at least moderately good looking man, "he looks   
just like my old boy friend!" The other Senshi fell into an immediate face   
fault.  
  
When they had recovered Moon, still a little miffed at the scare he had given   
her earlier grumbled, "He's not that handsome".  
  
With the boy crazy Senshi still swooning , Mercury was busily tapping away at   
her computer, trying to figure out how two tons of dragon compacted into 150   
pounds of human. Moon was grumbling about how something about how the universe   
hated her.  
  
Manzer walked over to the injured Sailor Venus. He took a quick look at her   
ankle. Then kneeled down and touched his right index and ring fingers to the   
wound. He mumbled an incantation in his draconic tongue, and for an instant her   
ankle was embraced in warm healing magic.  
  
He looked up and smiled at Venus. " That should be all right now, I'm sorry that   
I startled you in the first place." He then stood up and offered her his hands.   
She accepted them and he hoisted her up without effort (obviously he had not   
lost strength in this form). "now it should be good as new".  
  
Once she had decided that her ankle was healed, Venus stammered out her thanks   
quickly and turned a deep shade of red that rarely appears in nature.   
  
In the wrinkle in space above the Earth, Shade knelt in front of her two   
masters. Without a word Ail turned her back into the card that was the core of   
her being. Ann on the other hand took the energy she had gathered to and feed it   
to the Doom Tree. A little life returned to the giant tree, but only enough to   
keep it from fading a little more. Ail returned Shade to his deck, then turned   
to his companion.  
  
"Do you think she was telling the truth about that monster helping the Senshi?"  
  
"It's not the Cardians' nature to lie" Ann responded, " you animate them, and I   
bind them to our will. The serve us, and are nothing without us". She sighed "   
If the senshi have a new ally, it could mean the end for us, if we can't find   
energy for the Doom Tree".  
  
As the meloncoly came over her Ail, moved closer and held her close to him " We   
will keep the tree alive, we don't have any choice." His words reassured her,   
and just knowing that she was confident silenced those same doubts in him.   
Survival was their only concern.   
  
  
  
to be continued...   
  
End Note:   
  
Manzer is based on an old RPG character of mine, the exact stats for which have   
been lost for some time. He is a based on a RIFTS RPG adult Kukulcan, with full  
air spells (page 126 Rifts Converstion Book). Another approximate is the Couati from   
D&D 3rd Monster Manual pg 38 and/or the Silver Dragon from the same book pgs 75-76.   
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
